Ghost Job Economy: Job seekers aren't imagining things; the number of candidates ghosted by employers just reached a

[ck4829]

Job seekers aren’t imagining things: the number of candidates ghosted by employers just reached a three-year high thanks to AI

Job seekers are up against a brutal labor market, sending thousands of applications out to no avail, and resorting to in-person stunts to get an employer’s attention. And a new report is confirming their suspicions: hiring managers are ghosting their candidates, and it’s getting worse for talent every year.

(and) About 81% of recruiters said that their employer posts “ghost jobs,” or roles that either don’t exist or have already been filled, according to a 2024 report from MyPerfectResume.

Unlike conventional ghosting, these fake postings are created for a purposeful reason: about 38% of recruiters reported that they post fake positions to maintain a presence on job boards when they aren’t hiring, 36% did so to assess the effectiveness of their job postings, and 26% hoped gain insight into the job market and competitors.

Jasmine Escalera, a career expert for MyPerfectResume, told Fortune in 2024 that another big reason is wanting to improve their employers’ image; nearly a quarter said that fake jobs help their company look like they’re not freezing hiring, and one fifth fessed up to posting ghost jobs to improve the reputation of their business.

https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/job-seekers-aren-t-imagining-164013970.html

[House of Roberts]

1. How many of them keep jobs posted to keep pressure on their employees?

When the labor market becomes tight like now, they start squeezing the workforce to get more productivity.